Energy Losers: Lone Pine Resources

Lone Pine Resources prices below its expected IPO range and declines in its first day of trading.

In February, Encana ( ECA) sold a 50% interest in its Cutbank Ridge business assets in British Columbia and Alberta to PetroChina ( PTR) for $5 billion, a deal viewed by the market as valuing a limited number of Canadian assets at attractive price.

In 2010, Royal Dutch Shell ( RDS.A) had acquired East Resources for $4.7 billion, a mark topped by the Encana joint venture value.

Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands went public last April, at the same time as the Conoco sale, in a $1.4 billion deal that was one of Canada's largest IPOs.

All of the IPO proceeds are being repaid to Forest Oil, which spun off 18% of its ownership of Lone Pine through the IPO. Forest Oil still owns approximately 82% of Lone Pine and has said it will distribute those shares to Forest Oil shareholders in four months.

If the Lone Pine deal didn't reach its pricing goal, it still accomplished another goal of Forest Oil in terms of transparency of operations to the investor community. Analysts following the deal said that the spinoff of Lone Pine made it easier for investors to "get their hands around" Forest Oil.